We did a "what are you reading now" thread a while back and I thought enough time had passed to start another one as I assume everyone is reading something else by now. I am re-reading The Complete Poems of Keats and Shelley. I also have the book Horns by Joe Hill ready to go (his real name is Joe King and he is the son of Stephen King).
Last one I read was a free ebook from 100 years ago called "The Quest of the Simple Life" by William J. Dawson. About to start "Gone Girl".
Good to see an erudite City fan. I usually read a lot in January and February to get through these dark evenings. I am currently reading Joan Didion's 'Play It As It Lays'. The others I have read thus far this month are 'Let The Great World Spin' by Column McCann (which I would definitely recommend) and a history book 'That Option No Longer Exists: Britain 1974-1976 by John Medhurst. The latter one actually refers to the late 1960s to the start of the Thatcher era. I remember reading some of Shelley's poems a few years ago, particularly 'The Mask of Anarchy'.
The best political poem ever written in my opinion. If I had to pick a favorite of Shelley's though it would have to be Ozymandias although as with most of Shelley's works its not exactly non-political.
But living in the age of Castlereagh and Peterloo he would not be true to it if he denied the political.
Some lines of Blake's before I go to bed. Another poet who reacted to the era he lived in. 'Prisons are built with stones of law Brothels with bricks of religion The pride of the peacock is the glory of god The lust of the goat is the bounty of god The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of god The nakedness of woman is the work of god.' And of course his Tiger was burning bright!
Re-reading "Or I'll Dress You in Mourning", the life story of Manuel Benitez ( "El Cordobes"), the bullfighter. First read it in '68 & rediscovered it recently in a trunk of books I shipped over with me when I emigrated in the early 70's. I was fascinated why any sane individual would pick such a crazy profession for earning his daily bread. Fascinating story of risk/reward, rags to riches , unknown urchin to idolized hero. The title comes from a quote made to his sister the day of his first encounter with the "big" bulls in the ring... "Don't cry, Angelita. Tonight I'll buy you a house, or I'll dress you in mourning." He was nuts, but he bought her the house. Like many such superstars, along the way his talent & bravery was exploited somewhat by unscrupulous management, but in the end he lived a comfortable life into old age.
I am currently reading "Edwards One Nil" strangely enough. Good to read and gives some insight as to how football has evolved. Its also good because i can identify with most of his Hull City moments, although i am at the point where his career went backwards and he has just gone to the Dirty ones down the M62. His view on training when he first started is quite eyeopening, as well as what his first wage packet was.
The Mystery of Mallory & Irvine by Tom Holzel & Audrey Salkeld................Interesting stuff about whether they got to the top of Everest or not next up is The Universal tone by Carlos Santana
If you liked the Mallory book, see the link to a book on the same subject in post #21 in the "O?T Yosemite Climbers" thread above, that may be of interest to you.
I got that for Christmas so will be reading it before long. I usually struggle with books of sports-people I've never seen but I'm hoping I'll be able to get into it. I've got myself 6 months behind on FourFourTwo magazine so I'm catching up with that at the moment - it's strange reading pieces written for the start of the season or building up to a match that have already gone but there's some really good stuff in there.
